1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to arrangements for concealing windshield wipers of automobiles, and more particularly, to an arrangement for putting a windshield wiper in a hollow space provided for receiving wipers between a rear end of a hood panel and a lower end of a windshield in a body of an automobile and covering the hollow space in which the windshield wiper is contained so that the windshield wiper is concealed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Although there has been commonly used in automobiles a windshield wiper which has a wiper arm provided with a wiper blade and is mounted to be swingable on a cowl panel located between a hood panel and a front windshield in a body of an automobile so as to work on the front windshield, a so-called windshield wiper of the full-concealed type has been also proposed. The windshield wiper of the full-concealed type is put in a hollow space formed for receiving wipers between a rear end of a hood panel and a lower end of a front windshield in a body of an automobile when it is in an inoperative state. The windshield wiper of the full-concealed type contained in the hollow space for receiving wipers does not appear in a front view of the automobile, and therefore the windshield wiper of the full-concealed type makes a contribution to a good appearance of the automobile.
However, the automobile equipped with the windshield wiper of the full-concealed type is required to have a relatively large opening which is formed with a predetermined width between a lower portion of the front windshield and the rear end of the hood panel in the body so as to extend along the front windshield in the direction of the width of the body and connected to the hollow space for receiving wipers in which the windshield wiper being in the inoperative state is put. In this connection, to provide the automobile with such an opening formed between the lower portion of the front windshield and the rear end of the hood panel in the body brings about disadvantages that the appearance of the automobile in the sight seen from the front windshield to a front end of the body is spoiled by the opening and a loud wind noise is liable to be produced at the opening when the automobile is in a travelling state.
For the purpose of avoiding the above-mentioned disadvantages that occur in the case of the automobile equipped with the windshield wiper of the full-concealed type, it has been proposed, as disclosed in, for example, the Japanese utility model application published before examination under publication number 57-158555, to provide a lid for covering the hollow space for receiving wipers which is formed between the rear end of the hood panel and the lower end of the front windshield in the body and receives the windshield wiper of the full-concealed type. The lid is operative to close the opening provided between the hood panel and the front windshield in the body for permitting the wiper arm to be put therethrough into the hollow space for receiving wiper arms when the windshield wiper of the full-concealed type is in the inoperative state.
In an arrangement for concealing the windshield wiper provided with such a lid, the lid is fixed at its central portion to one end of a link member which is supported to be rotatable through a pin by a support member planted on a cowl panel forming a bottom portion of the hollow space for receiving wiper arms and engaged at its portion deviated to the hood panel from its central portion with the cowl panel through a spring so as to be caused to tend to open the hollow space for receiving wiper arms. When the windshield wiper of the full-concealed type is in the inoperative state and put in the hollow space for receiving wipers, the other end of the link member which has one end thereof connected to the central portion of the lid is restricted from moving by the windshield wiper coming into contact therewith, so that the lid keeps closed the hollow space for receiving wipers in opposition to the resilient force by the spring.
In the case of the previously proposed arrangement for concealing the windshield wiper of the automobile which is provided with the hollow space for receiving wipers in the body of the automobile and the lid for covering the hollow space as described above, since the windshield wiper comes directly into contact with the link member connected to the lid so as to restrain the same from moving in opposition to the resilient force by the spring when it is put in the hollow space for receiving wipers, the resilient force by the spring acts on the windshield wiper continuously through the lid and the link member when the windshield wiper is put is the hollow space for receiving wipers. This results in that each of the operation of the windshield wiper for wiping the front windshield and the operation of the lid for opening and closing the hollow space for receiving wipers is deteriorated in reliability. In addition, since a portion of the lid positioned against the front windshield projects upward from the level of the hood panel and a relatively large opening is formed between the hood panel and the front windshield in the body when the lid is operated to open the hollow space for receiving wipers, the appearance of the automobile is spoiled at a portion of the body between the hood panel and the front windshield. Further, the portion of the lid projecting upward from the level of the hood panel is kept in an unsupported state when the lid is operated to open the hollow space for receiving wiper, the lid is apt to the fluttered undesirably by wind during the travelling of the automobile.